Under the Hood: Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Colorado Buffaloes

by Jon Johnston on Nov 21, 2007 5:25 PM CST in Football Comment 0 comments

So... here we are against the Buffs.

The Colorado Buffaloes Schedule:

Colorado State - W 31-28 OT
@Arizona State - L 14-33
Florida State - L - 6-16
Miami, Ohio - W - 42-0
Oklahoma - W - 27-24
@Baylor - W - W - 42-23
@Kansas State - L 20-47
Kansas - L - 14-19
@Texas Tech - W - 31-26
Missouri - L - 10-55
@Iowa State - L - 28-31

Average margin of victory in their wins - 14.4 points. Without Miami, OH - 5
Average margin of victory in losses... 17 - Without Missouri - 9.5.
Sagarin's ratings for the two teams?
- Colorado is at 56, with a schedule ranking of 5th.
- Nebraska is at 57, with a schedule ranking of 2nd.

Look at those schedule rankings - second and fifth in the nation. Of the Cornhusker's opponents only Iowa State and Kansas State have losing records, I guess you can understand that the schedule ranking has gone up to second in the nation for the Huskers. Colorado has been a playing out of conference schedule for a few years now.
The Number one toughest schedule as ranked by Sagarin is Washington. On to the stats!

Colorado By The Numbers: Offense

Rush YPG	Rush YPC	Rush TD	Pass YPG	Pass YPA	Pass TD	QB Rating	Total Offense	Scoring Offense

138.45 (75)	3.76 (77)	13 (85)	225.73 (59)	6.1 (100)	17 (54)	113.19 (98)	364.18 (79)	24.18 (82)

Nebraska By The Numbers: Offense

Rush YPG	Rush YPC	Rush TD	Pass YPG	Pass YPA	Pass TD	QB Rating	Total Offense	Scoring Offense
146.09 (69)	4.05 (58)	16 (65)	309.27 (11)	8.0 (14)	27 (12)	144.65 (17)	455.36 (16)	31.82 (36)

Nebraskans might be complaining about our inability to run the ball but we're still doing better than Colorado. 3.76 per carry is pretty anemic.
It matches the Buff's low output per attempt on passing, which is even worse.
Nebraska's scoring offense should be higher given the total offense level.

Colorado By The Numbers: Defense

Rush YPG	Rush YPA	Rush TD	Pass YPG	Pass YPA	Pass TD	Total Defense	Scoring Defense
127.82 (38)	3.83 (50)	15 (49)	241.55 (80)	6.9 (60)	6.9 (78)	369.36 (52)	27.45 (63)

Nebraska By The Numbers: Defense

Rush YPG	Rush YPA	Rush TD	Pass YPG	Pass YPA	Pass TD	Total Defense	Scoring Defense
228.09 (114)	5.23 (115)	32 (117)	245.0 (84)	7.1 (74)	18 (66)	473.09 (111)	35.45 (105)

Nebraska's defense - 473 yards per game and 111th overall. Eeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyagh! It hurt to write that.
We are tied at 117th with 0-10 Florida International in giving up rush TD's. Only 1-9 North Texas is lower.

A full season of opponents comparison's should be interesting.

Nebraska-Colorado Opponents' Positional Ranks

Total Offense Rank	Nebraska Opponent	Total Defense Rank	--	Total Offense Rank	Colorado Opponent	Total Defense Rank
11	Nevada	84	--	69	Colorado State	88
97	Wake Forest	37	--	33	Arizona State	19
47	USC	3	--	78	Florida State	27
26	Ball State	94	--	77	Miami-OH	60
102	Iowa State	69	--	17	Oklahoma	24
4	Missouri	57	--	88	Baylor	109
6	Oklahoma State	99	--	39	Kansas State	63
63	Texas A&M	86	--	7	Kansas	8
12	Texas	45	--	2	Texas Tech	50
7	Kansas	8	--	4	Missouri	57
39	Kansas State	63	--	102	Iowa State	69
37.64	Average	58.64	--	46.90	Average	52.18

- Look at those Big 12 offenses. Oooeee! You've got four out of the top ten offenses from the Big 12 and Texas coming in at 12th, Nebraska at 16, Oklahoma at 17. Others in the top 10 in total offense include Tulsa, Hawaii, Oregon, Houstin, Louisville, and Boise State.
- An aside, the top offense in the SEC is Florida at 18. What's with those SEC defenses giving up so many points week to week?
- Looking at this maybe you get an idea of who should the Mizzou - Kansas game. Maybe I should do one of these comparisons for that game. What do you think?
- Given the Buff's low per attempt average on passing I'd expect that Nebraska's defense isn't going to give up a lot of huge passing plays. Conversely, Nebraska's offense is capable of exploding again this week.
- A 31-24 score over the Buffs would work for me.

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